[NukeNet] Activists get tiny voice in nuclear hearings

[Mike Ewall]

http://www.ajc.com/business/content/business/stories/2007/03/15/031biznuke.html

Activists get tiny voice in nuclear hearings

By MARGARET NEWKIRK
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Published on: 03/16/07

Georgia environmental groups will have a seat at the legal table as Southern
Co.'s Georgia Power tries to get federal permits for two new nuclear units
at Plant Vogtle near Augusta.

But it isn't much of one.

A three-judge Atomic Safety Licensing Board handling Southern Co.'s nuclear
expansion application ruled Thursday that six environmental groups can have
legal standing in the process of permitting Southern Co.'s new reactors.

But the groups will only be able to argue about the effect new plants could
have on fish and water quality in the Savannah River.

The board refused to grant them legal standing to argue about a range of
other issues, including broader public energy policy and the continuing lack
of a permanent place to store the nation's nuclear waste.

"We've got a pinkie finger in the door," said Sara Barczak, of the Southern
Alliance for Clean Energy.

The groups are the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, Atlanta WAND,
Savannah Riverkeeper, Center for a Sustainable Coast, Blue Ridge
Environmental Defense League and Turner Environmental Law Clinic.

Southern Co.'s proposed reactors are part of a wave of similar planned
projects across the country, particularly in the South.

Barczak said other environmental challengers have fared worse.

Challengers ended up with no legal standing in the process of permitting new
nukes in Mississippi. In Virginia, they were limited to arguments related to
the effects new nuclear plants would have on just one kind of fish.

Georgia Power does "not believe the intervenors have identified genuine
issues of fact or law that are material to the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission's licensing process," spokesman John Sell said.

"We believe that all relevant issues have been handled appropriately in the
early site permit application," he said. "We'll continue through the legal
process."